Happy Tuesday.

Mother Jones has released a second video from that Romney fundraiser, in which the candidates says that the Palestinians have "no interest whatsoever in establishing peace, and that the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish." Again, it's a true statement that the media is going to pretend to be astounded by.

Finally, after a year of green-on-blue attacks, the U.S. is suspending combat patrols alongside Afghan forces.

Oh, I'll be in Chicago this afternoon through tomorrow. I know I always leave this stuff to the last second, but if local morons want to get a drink this evening, I'm staying down by Navy Pier. Email me (gabriel.malor at gmail), and if I'm convinced you're not an axe murderer, I'll email you back.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:53 AM | Comments (519)
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Peter van Uhm: Why I Chose the Gun

Here General Peter van Uhm, the Netherlands' chief of defense, explains why he made the gun his chosen tool and the military his career: Because he loves peace and hates evil.

Those who know the saying si vis pacem, para bellum will now doubt find many of his arguments familiar but you rarely ever hear them so forcefully and eloquently expressed - especially to a European audience who are prone to pride themselves on being 'beyond war'.

To put this in context remember that there is a non-trivial minority of the Dutch who would like to do away with their armed forces entirely so Gen. van Uhm is targeting those who have a stereotyped view of the military as mere war-mongers - an audience who are able live their lives woefully ignorant of guns only because of men like him who sweat the details 24/7 to keep it that way.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 05:56 PM | Comments (726)
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I'd say I couldn't believe it but I actually could believe it.

"Flexibility"

It's what's for dinner.

Put 'Em Under Oath: Bring in Hillary and her top underlings and ask the question, under oath.

Posted by: Ace at 04:33 PM | Comments (392)
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I've had this open all day.

You have to read his post to see the numbers. But the basic pattern is that high Republican affiliation -- even a tie, or even being slightly behind the Democrats -- results in Republican wins.

When it's close, the Democrats tend to lose.

What does this mean for November? It means a lot.

The Democrats won 2 election in this period 2006 & 2008 with a 6.9 advantage in 2006 & a 7.6 advantage in 2008.

There is no example of the Democrats winning since 2004 with an advantage less that 6.9.

The GOP won two elections in this period 2004 with a -1.6 disadvantage & 2010 with a 1.3 advantage. This means the GOP has proven it can win with not only a small lead but with an actual disadvantage. Additionally with an advantage of only 1.3 they pulled off the biggest house swing in my lifetime.

Can these number change? Well the biggest 1 month swing IÂ’ve seen is 4.2 Oct-Nov in 2010 the biggest 3 month swing was Dec 2007-Feb 2008 6.9 in favor of Democrats at the rise of Obama.

As Judge Rheinhold says in Fast Times, "Read it. Learn it. Live it."

Posted by: Ace at 03:12 PM | Comments (322)
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Althouse: "Let's not be so quick to assume the man with the "Shut Up America" sign [a protester outside an embassy] is thoroughly alien. The threats to free speech lie within. They always have."

Yup:

“Insallah [God willing], we will kill him,” one Facebook user, Shayan Khan, wrote from Karachi, Pakistan.

Some YouTube users envisioned particularly imaginative demises for Nakoula in the comments section of a video related to his detention.

“I wanna torture him with a shot [to] his knee cap, then blow his eyes with [a] knife, take a chain saw and cut his penis, then a hot rod would be given to his ass, then kill him until he is hanged till death,” funkyfolk1110 wrote. “Kill this bastard,” said another user.

On Twitter, a user named Yayan E. Putra posted, “Fuck Nakoula Basseley, i want to kill you!!!” The message starkly contrasted with Putra’s brief Twitter profile, which stated simply, “A smile is the little thing that can make life easier.”

“Someone please kill him,” agreed Nelson Davis, a retired market researcher living in New York, who earlier on Sunday invited his Twitter followers to “Choose your free Obama sticker!”

The man's crime? Using the right of free speech. But the actual offense is complicating Obama's political campaign.

And for that, of course, he should be killed. (Um, obviously I am being bitterly sarcastic here. I don't want a Doom demerit.)

For some reason, I suspect if I were to say something like "I wish the crazed, homicidal Tea Partiers (who haven't killed or hurt anyone) would kill these traitors to the Constitution," their attitudes about violence over free speech would change pretty damn quick.

And suddenly we'd have sympathetic stories about their plight, these poor Americans, abused by crazed extremists wishing for their deaths, put in fear for their lives by vicious extremists who don't understand that in America, dissent is patriotic.

In related news: Happy Constitution Day!

"Liberal" Bill Press: Lock These Guys Up For Blasphemy: But we'll call it something else, so we can pretend we're still "liberal."

So, I think the United States ought to identify, yeah, we oughta be going after these terrorists that carried out the attacks in Libya and we are. I think we also ought to be identifying the people who made this video and go after them with the full force of the law and lock their ass up.

That tip is from, appropriately enough, George Orwell.

Posted by: Ace at 02:03 PM | Comments (353)
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I put this in the sidebar, but now I'm putting it here. Because I'm tired.

Rick Santorum said something he didn't mean to -- that we, the conservatives, will never have the "elites" or the "smart people" on our side. Of course he meant the "smart set," or the "self-declared smart set." But a Republican said the wrong word, ergo it's a major story for MSNBC.

Andrea Mitchell then "pleads guilty" to being one of the "elite, smart" people.

No jury in the world would convict you, Andrea.

They like themselves a whole heck of a lot, don't they?

No wonder they are such fans of Obama. They are all people who are convinced of their superiority despite the lack of actual accomplishments.

Andrea's accomplishment is "being on TV." But that's her job. That's not a mark of distinction.

But because they're in a... intellectually undemanding field, they're... the elite?

Posted by: Ace at 01:41 PM | Comments (176)
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Seems like this is completely accurate to me.

Oh Noes! There's even more: He says it would be politically helpful to him were he of Latino descent.

I mean, that's obviously so false. more...

Posted by: Ace at 01:06 PM | Comments (207)
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I think that's a pretty good line and am hoping the Romney people deploy it.

I got it from this guy: @samalie3

Obama blew a $10 trillion deficit (accumulated over decades) into a $16 trillion one (I almost said "$15 trillion," but now it's $16; it's like when you keep forgetting it's 2012).

He inherited an AAA credit rating and turned it into AA.

So, you know. I expect him to perform spectacularly well given the crises he's created or worsened.

Whoops: Actually, this seems to come from Bernie Goldberg.

Thanks to @adamsbaldwin for reading so that I don't have to.

Posted by: Ace at 12:29 PM | Comments (197)
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Track and pursue?

The media approves, and will do whatever is necessary to help.

Note: This was originally via @benk84 in the sidebar.

It's one of those cases where he beat everyone but I didn't notice.

Posted by: Ace at 12:12 PM | Comments (137)
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Oh dear.

From what low-to-moderate heights he's fallen.

Apparently thought this was a real Keeper which deserved wide dissemination and large-scale enjoyment:

Romney and Ryan are missing a 3rd person -- Curly.

Yes, I can see why you were so proud of that one. The last time I laughed so hard I fell off of my dinosaur.

(Pretty good joke, eh?!!!)

Posted by: Ace at 11:51 AM | Comments (268)
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